Published On 4/29/2026
King Charles III of Britain said in a speech before the US Congress on Tuesday that the “firm resolve” that emerged after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States “is required to defend Ukraine and its brave people… in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.”
The King urged “unrelenting resolve” in supporting Ukraine against Russia, praising NATO, and reminded the audience that the only time NATO’s collective defense was activated was after the September 11 attacks on the United States.
He added that the partnership between Europe and America is “more important today than ever before,” noting that the American-British alliance “cannot be satisfied with previous achievements” in light of the Ukrainian war testing relations.
The King of Britain denounced the “acts of violence” aimed at spreading terror, days after the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which was attended by US President Donald Trump.
Charles’ reception at the White House
For his part, Trump stressed that the United States does not have “closer friends than the British,” during the reception ceremony for King Charles and Queen Camilla at the White House.
The British royal couple is on an official visit to the United States, which came amid tensions between the two countries due to the war on Iran.
Trump openly criticizes British Prime Minister Keir Starmer because of London’s reservations regarding the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28, as well as Starmer’s refusal to allow British bases to be used in the first American strikes on Iran.
Charles’s speech to Congress, which lasted about 20 minutes, came 250 years after the American colonies declared their independence from the British Crown on July 4, 1776.
This is only the second time that a British monarch has delivered a speech at the Capitol in Washington, after Queen Elizabeth II’s speech in 1991.
